the Government, councils, headteachers have said there going to fine £50 per child and just this week airports are putting extra tax on flights from £80 to £480 during the summer think parents will gladley pay the £50 lol

Totally agree with Emma Holt. For six whole weeks in the run up to Christmas, our kids did absolutely nothing educational, instead they rehearsed non stop for the carol concert and nativity. Similar thing in the run up to Easter, and the last fortnight before the summer holidays seemed to be spent watching videos. Not to mention inset days, strikes, and the days when the poor teachers couldn't make it to school because of the snow. Honestly, what a bunch of skivers; if I could get over Hartside pass to Alston to get to work, I'm pretty darn sure the teachers could have made it a mile or two across town. So I'll happily take my kids out of school for holidays during the periods they're not actually learning anything, and the school can stick the fine in its pipe and smoke it! Rant over, now let's get the kettle on.

Being a bit disingenuous aren't we?

The crux of the matter is parents taking their kids out during term time at any time. Not just the last few days of term.

If you're going to comment on the matter then at least be a bit more honest about the story at hand.

Oh yes two weeks in a bar in Benidorm with mam and dad throwing it down their necks is certainly an education.

My parents didn't take me out of school for holidays... they couldn't afford to. Be thankful for what you have got and stop whingeing.

I suppose it was more than a holiday, we took our daughter away for 3 months, totally WITH the permission of her school. I was a mature student and was invited to spend 3 months in Italy on the Erasmus exchange programme. At first the school said adamantly 'no' to my daughter going with us but after I proposed to them what she would be doing they totally changed. Languages - whilst away my daughter learned some Italian and French. History and Art, she visited MANY historic sites and galleries (she also had her portrait drawn outside the galleries in Florence) Maths, she learnt to convert currency and kilometers to miles (and worked out budgets and shopping). Geography, she worked with me on route planning and learnt to follow maps and interpret terrain. She thoroughly enjoyed the experience as the 'learning' was fun and there were many added skills she developed (self confidence not being the least). On her return to school, rather than being 'behind' in her work, she became the 'subject matter expert' in many of the subjects and her teacher was delighted to be corrected by her current knowledge (in that instance it was the angle of the leaning tower of Pisa which we had actually visited whilst they were working on it!).
I would like to think that if you explained the 'learning benefits' of any holiday you took your children on to a school they would support you. We now own and run a campsite in France ( http://www.activity-holidays.net )and one of the things we assist parents with there is how the kids can have a brilliant holiday and benefit from it as a learning experience too. I would be happy to supply details of how we presented 'a holiday as a learning experience' or what we do now should anybody want it,

i am a parent(single)who works extremely hard for a local company!i work so my child learns that mummy and daddy have to work hard for nice things and to merely exist in this day and age i applied for special permision to take child on a 2 week cruise to celebrate my 40th with family!it was denide apparently not special enough.well i actually agree that a childs education is of the upmost importance and my child has a 100% attendance is never late and abides most of the time by the rules,i never have in the past gone against the wishes of the school until now,we will be going away in september fine or no fine it should all be on merit and not a blanket rule i also feel that if schools insist on these rules and fines maybe we can fine the schools for loss of earnings on strikes?food for thought?